Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright

Author:Madeleine Albright
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 2012-04-30T16:00:00+00:00

The crematory at Terezín

Terezín Memorial (the interior of the crematory, FAPT 6283)

Autumn arrived. The foliage in the surrounding Bohemian countryside turned crimson and gold. The air cooled, beginning to hint at the bitter chill to come. Inside the prison walls, Terezín’s population had—on September 18, 1942—reached 58,491, more than on any other day. This was also the date on which the most prisoners died, among them my grandfather Arnošt Körbel. At the age of sixty-four, he succumbed to bronchial pneumonia. A funeral service was almost certainly held, but it would have been a memorial for the many, not for Arnošt alone. If Olga wrote to share the sad tidings with her daughter Greta, she would have been allowed but a single postcard and a maximum of thirty words, written in block letters and in German.

ONLY THE NAZIS would think to improve their public image by establishing a concentration camp. Terezín was a prison disguised as a town. In addition to the post office, there was a coffeehouse with a band called the Ghetto Swingers, but the “coffee” was made from a blend of herbs and turnips. The one food consistently available was mustard. There were shops, but most of the merchandise had been confiscated from prisoners. The joke went round that Terezín’s boutiques were the world’s finest, because only there could you buy a shirt that already had your own personal monogram. In an era when nicotine addiction was commonplace, cigarettes—although supposedly prohibited—were used for bartering everything from slices of bread to kisses on the cheek. The Germans even supplied the ghetto with its own currency, featuring a caricature of Moses holding the Ten Commandments.

Administering the ghetto was a nightmare that the Nazis were pleased to leave to the Jewish Council. The elders had to cope with a population that was divided between Zionists and assimilated Jews, Communists and democrats, young and old. The Germans and Czechs, in particular, did not always get along. The Czechs resented the German Jews for being German; the Germans were upset with the Czechs for their prejudice. Both accused the other of haughtiness. Adding to the mix was a significant minority of practicing Christians, who petitioned successfully for the right to hold services.

Because the Nazis delegated so much, they were able to direct the fate of Terezín with a contingent of just two dozen Germans. These were assisted by 150 Czech gendarmes under the command of Theodor Janeček, a sadist who bullied inmates and reported every infraction to his bosses. The typical Czech guard, however, refrained from gratuitous cruelty; fourteen were imprisoned for smuggling contraband to inmates or for illegally taking letters out.

To supplement the German and Czech security forces, the Jews formed a police unit of their own, the Ghettowache. These officers had the authority to arrest and punish prisoners for minor offenses, including stealing and slander. More serious violations were passed to the Czech police or ultimately to the Nazi overseers. The Ghettowache was also responsible for ensuring that every inmate was accounted for each night.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.